I love a good birthday party; I just don’t love the price tag that comes with them. Do you feel this way?
Over the last 12 years we have had some GREAT birthday parties without breaking the bank.
Recently, my daughter wanted to have her 7th birthday party at the park. I budgeted and had her party, that she invited 14 friends (plus their siblings) to, for under $100. Pretty awesome? I thought so.
One thing you might be wondering is, did they still have fun? They did! That’s the best part! It doesn’t take much to make kids happy. My daughter mostly just wanted to have all of her friends in one place to play with them all.
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How did I keep a birthday party under $100?
Good question. It did take planning, but in all honestly, it wasn’t very hard at all.
Venue –
We had it at the park on a Friday morning. This way I didn’t have to reserve a ramada because there usually are not a lot of people at this particular park in the mornings. Park = free venue. Disclaimer: Yes, sometimes we must reserve the ramada, especially on a weekend, but they don’t usually cost too much, depending on the park.
Games/Activities –
We kept our games simple. First, we gathered our parachute, 4 water squish balls, 2 beach balls, a bucket filled with water, and chalk. Most of these we already owned, except we needed new squish balls since ours had been torn to pieces last summer from so much play.
- Parachute – We played multiple games with the parachute.
- Switch colors – You call out a color and everyone holding that color has to run under the parachute to switch with a friend on the other side of the parachute with that same color.
- Sharks and Minnows – There are two lifeguards and 2 sharks. The two sharks hang out underneath the parachute and try to drag the players that are still holding onto the parachute under the parachute with them. The lifeguards have to try to “save” the people from being pulled under. It’s a favorite.
- Touch the middle – I don’t know the real name for this game. You lay the parachute on the ground, and everyone sits near a color on the parachute. The leader calls out a color and everyone who is sitting near that color must crawl to the center, touch it, and crawl back as quickly as they can.
- Water Games –
- Squish ball tag – This is played like normal tag except on a hot day you tag the other players with a ball full of water that you squeeze on them. It’s quite refreshing.
- Hot Potato with water balls – This can be played with water balloons, but we had the water squish balls so we used those instead. Since we had about 16 kids playing we used 4 balls. We soaked them in water, gathered everyone into a circle, and passed the balls from person to person while singing the hot potato song. Whoever had the ball when the song ended had to squeeze the water ball over their head.
- Playground –
- When all of the games had been played, the kids ran to the playground. I love a park birthday party for this reason. Send them off to create their own fun.
- We had also brought chalk and sand toys for the kids to play with. These two are always a favorite at the playground.
Birthday party snacks Instead of a Meal –
I cut the high food cost of a typical birthday party by offering snacks with cake instead of a full meal. We held her party in the morning between breakfast and lunch so the kids could eat breakfast before coming and lunch once they arrived home.
Party snacks included:
- A big bowl of Goldfish
- A big bowl of Pirate’s Booty
- Birthday cake
- Kool-Aid pouches and water bottles
The Birthday Party Cake! –
One of the most expensive items at a birthday party can sometimes be the cake itself. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fancy cake or cupcakes or any kind of fancy dessert. However, to feed a group of 16-20 kids (her friends and their siblings), I opted for making our own.
We could have made the cake from scratch (which is what I used to do when my kids were younger), but this time I opted for box cake mix.
We bought two boxes of Funfetti cake mix, two canisters of Funfetti frosting, and we already had avocado oil, eggs, and birthday candles. Oh! and I purchased two aluminum pans so I could throw them away once we were done.
We were able to make two 9×13 cakes, and all the kids came back for seconds, and some came back for thirds.
Decorations! –
Decorations can usually become out of hand as well. I have definitely been caught in this before, which I am not against. There are seasons for different things and this season was a minimalist one. If you are in a minimalist season or you just love minimalism in general, this is the list of all the decorations we had.
- 3 dark pink tablecloths
- White and pink polka-dot napkins
- Dark pink plates
That was it. We used the backdrop of the park as our decoration this year. My daughter didn’t mind in the least, like I said, she just wanted to have a fun time with her friends.
A Great Success –
All in all, it turned out great. She was so happy and told us it was the best birthday party she’s ever had. When my boys were small, before my daughter had come along, I used to throw them elaborate parties. Big cakes (usually made by me, so not costly with money, just costly in time), decorations magnified, a full meal, extra party snacks, and goody bags. Not to mention all of the supplies for the games.
Over the years, as we’ve become busier and busier, I’ve realized that all my kids want is food they aren’t normally allowed to have, a good tasting cake, and their friends and family.
Don’t get me wrong, decorations always make it feel like a party and I love them, still. When you hit those days when the finances just aren’t there, then minimalist parties are still the bee’s knees.
Minimalist Party Ideas –
Here are some of the low-budget, low-supplies, parties we have had over the past few years.
- Swim party – We use our community pool or the local high school pool. Then all the kids come back to the house for pizza, soda, and simple games.
- Cookie decorating party – My son had a party where we made Ninja sugar cookies. They each cut out their own and once they cooled, they decorated them. There was so much candy and they loved it. We also got some Little Ceasar pizza and then they played at the house the rest of the night.
- Minute to Win It – For my other son, we had his friends over to play Minute to Win It games. One involved getting in teams of 2, and 1 teammate wrapped the other teammate in toilet paper. Whoever could use the most toilet paper to create their mummy first was the winner. We had simple snacks, and the supplies came from the dollar store or Wal-Mart.
- Bluey Birthday Party – My daughter loves Bluey and so for her 5th birthday party, she wanted everything Bluey. We recreated the games from the show like Lucky’s Dad’s pass the parcel, Keep the Uppy, and added in musical chairs. We printed pictures of Bluey to hang around the house and purchased blue and white ballons and streamers from the dollar store. This was also a snacks birthday party.
- Dungeons and Dragons – My oldest loves D&D. For his 13th birthday, he has requested a D&D night with his friends. We haven’t done this party yet, but the plan so far is to create hand drawn D&D posters with the characters he has created drawn on them, set up the card table with all of his game supplies, purchase pizza and soda, and bake his cake and decorate it D&D style. He wanted to play D&D all night and nothing else.
There you have it. Inexpensive, budget-friendly birthday parties can be a thing and they can still be fun! It’s all about the people you share it with that can make or break your day. I hope something here has inspired you! I would love to hear your minimalist, budget-friendly birthday ideas in the comments below.
If you are looking for more budget friendly inspiration, check out my posts here.
